Dec 2 Less in life is better

Having less in life is a lesson more evident with each added year we live. Yes, our journey is more easily traveled if we have a “lighter load” to carry. Yet, somehow in our “more is better” culture this doesn’t always resonate. Instead, we buy into the adage that more stuff guarantees a fuller life.
David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, wrote: “We are encouraged early on to savor the smorgasbord of life’s possibilities.”And so we set out on a journey of acquiring a little here, a few things there, until we realize we are moving in the wrong direction.

Again, it’s “having less which makes our journey better, not more." However, it just gets terribly difficult to move from one place to another when we have too much “stuff" to carry.

Thus, we change from a “grab all the gusto we can” attitude to a mood of “How can we downsize all this?” It is at this moment we see that with less to distract us, we can realize more clearly “who we truly are and what we want in life.”

With this new “awareness,” we navigate better our chosen path. But is having fewer “things” to distract us, the only reason to reduce our possessions? Is this the only reason to practice the virtue of Simplicity?

Simplicity has to be more than living with a de-cluttered closet and an immaculately clean desktop. Simplicity beckons us to fill our spaces once jammed with “possessions” we don’t need, with qualities like humility, graciousness, gentleness, understanding, and prayer-“the stuff” we really do need.

It is in this newly acquired calm, that we savor God’s nearness and the cleansing warmth of His Holy Spirit. Less distracted we hear Our God whispering His words of love, as He enjoys His new living space in our hearts.

True simplicity then, is not just living with “less,” but also cultivating the “more” we need in every walk of life. It is this life style alone, which brings us real moments of peace and joy, pointing us in the right direction to live life to the “fullest!”